New York Red Bulls

Once again rookie goalkeeper Ryan Meara features in the MLS Save of the Week! After a whipped-in Marvin Chavez corner kick, Meara was forced to make a stunning reaction save after a moment of miscommunication between the Red Bulls defenders. Check out the other nominees below, and be sure to cast your vote for Meara. Voting runs until 11:59 pm PT on Thursday.

Fittingly, McCarty's skillful finish is a Goal of the Week nominee. You know what to do - spread the word, share on Facebook, share on Twitter and get those votes in. Let's help Dax take home Goal of the Week honors.

MSG's Shep Messing recently sat down with Red Bulls forward Kenny Cooper to discuss a number of topics ranging from his trade to New York, his hopes of winning an MLS Cup and his day-to-day work ethic.

The New York Red Bulls remain undefeated at home after playing the San Jose Earthquakes to a 2-2 draw at Red Bull Arena Saturday night. (Full Recap)

Kenny Cooper kicked off the scoring in the fifth minute when he received a great ball from Thierry Henry to slip one past San Jose 'keeper Jon Busch for his seventh of the season. Defender Roy Miller, who left the match with inflammation in his left knee, was also award an assist on the play.

Midfielder Dax McCarty rounded out the scoring for New York when he sent home his first of the season in the 22nd minute on assists from Cooper and Dane Richards.

Rafael Baca and Chris Wondolowski each scored for the Earthquakes.

Henry, Cooper and Wondolowski entered the match ranked first, second and third overall in goals scored, respectively. With Cooper and Wondolowski each registering one in Saturday's match, there is now a three-way tie for first place in the Major League Soccer scoring department.

Red Bulls midfielder Dax McCarty picked up his first goal of the season Saturday night in what amounted to a 2-2 draw against the San Jose Earthquakes.

The play came alive when midfielder Dane Richards fought his way through a 50/50 battle with San Jose midfielder Shea Salinas. From there the speedster rushed his way down the wing past midfielder Rafa Baca, over a slide-tackle attempt from defender Ramiro Corrales and placed the ball into the box for Kenny Cooper. Cooper, with his back to the goal, placed enough of a touch on the ball to feed it over to a waiting McCarty, who patiently watched the ball settle down just enough before ripping a shot on goal that beat a diving Jon Busch.

Words can only paint the picture so well. Nothing beats the real thing like - well, the real thing. Check out video of McCarty's brilliant finish here:

Defender Jan Gunnar Solli took a few minutes after Thursday's training session at Red Bull Arena to catch up on a few topics including team chemistry, the Red Bulls' attack, San Jose's offensive threats and his appreciation for the supporters who took the trip to Columbus.

So far, Thierry and Kenny have done a great job providing offense up top. What do you guys need to do to get offensive production from other areas of the field, specifically from the wings and wing backs?

It’s about finding the right balance between when one fullback goes the other one tucks in. Obviously we are defenders first. But when we are here at Red Bull Arena that’s where we would like to entertain and also to show that we can attack from different areas. That will be very important because our strikers have been on fire lately, but we can try to provide them with assists and make it easy for them to have a few tap-ins as well because some of the goals have been really, really good. Finding the right balance I think is the key.

The San Jose Earthquakes have an impressive striker of their own in Chris Wondolowski (6 goals, tied for 2nd in MLS). How is the team addressing the challenge of stopping him?

We know it’s a good team in form. The way they press us is they come on high even if they are away. It’s definitely a challenging way of getting into the game because usually you get in the front seat when we play in our Arena and the team drops back and waits to counter attack. Now it’s a little different game. They have a lot of confidence. They have more points than us but this is our home. I’m not going to talk about the whole plan but we have a good strategy to break their first line of defense. I’m pretty sure if we can come out with a ball they will have to chase us.

The Earthquakes are 4-1-0 this season and sit in second place in the Western Conference. How can the team build off the confidence you gained during this three-game winning streak against a tougher opponent this week?

We have been scoring a lot of goals which gives us a lot of confidence. The way we go into the game, we know it’s going to be a battle. There’s not going to be any nice play before you kind of dig into it. It’s all about the team spirit which I think has been phenomenal over the last couple of games. And that’s what we need to build and have the confidence that, this is our home and the way we believe in our strategy and our plan, and everybody moving in the same direction. It’s going to take a very good San Jose team to beat us. I think this team looks very hungry and that’s the way to continue.

With the offense running in high gear, I’m sure the guys also want to get that first clean sheet of the year. Can you talk about the play of the back four so far this season?

The last game I think it was one of those set plays that got into the back of the goal. The guy heading the ball, he had a very easy job to put it in, but obviously he’s a big guy too. I think we’ve stepped up our game in every aspect. Obviously the strikers are getting a lot of attention as we’ve been the hottest team in the league right now scoring the most goals. But yeah, everyone in the defense and our goalie would like to have a clean sheet for once and why not start against San Jose. But like I said, nothing can be won before you actually go into the battle and everybody works their shirt off and stays focused. Maybe that’s the key to keep a clean sheet, the way we communicate with each other and take responsibility in dangerous areas.

The team has gotten off to a good start at home this season. How has the team been able to feed off the fans at Red Bull Arena?

This arena is amazing. To have the fans here and our home crowd, you can definitely feel like MLS is on the rise and it’s getting more attention through every game. I know how it is with good results. Good results affect people and people want to come and see maybe one of the hottest teams in MLS right now. It’s not only the star players of our team which have been good but also I think we’re showing the team spirit which the crowd really appreciates. I’m very excited about playing home games. Also, I gave a big shout out on my Twitter to all the guys coming into Columbus who also stayed and watched our reserves play. It’s not all about the first XI players and the substitutes who enter every game. It’s also nice to see that there are actually true supporters who follow our reserves and I know they really appreciate it too because everyone wants to get noticed. That’s how we create and build a team and I think we’re definitely working in the right direction.

For the past few weeks Thierry Henry's name has been a staple on the MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week. Nothing much has changed in Week 5, after his two goals and one assist against the Columbus Crew earned him his third consecutive Player of the Week honor (the first time ever in MLS history) and yet another place on the League's Starting XI.

Henry's run of seven goals and three assists over the past three matches, all Red Bulls wins, already has some including him in early-season MVP talks. And why not? He's already registered half of his total goals from the 2011 campaign (14 goals in 26 games), and there are still plenty of matches left to play.

Interestingly enough Henry is joined by this weekend's opponent, San Jose's Chris Wondolowski, whose six goals has him sitting just one behind Henry, the current league leader in that category. Somehow Kansas City's Kei Kamara, who has half of Kenny Cooper's goal total, rounds out this week's front lines on the MLSsoccer.com feature. Check out the rest of the Week 5 Starting XI here.

Another week and another win as the Red Bulls are slowly but surely working their way up power rankings across the web. A three-game win streak will certainly help any team's chances at climbing the ladder, but New York's ability to win three straight by a differential of three goals or more has undoubtedly helped the team's case as well.

"Thierry Henry's "celebration" after his second goal against Columbus was our favorite part of the weekend. It was a classic "drop the mic" moment from a player who isn't satisfied with a multi-goal win, but demands greatness as well."

Soccer by Ives has the Red Bulls in a two-way tie with the Houston Dynamo for 5th place.Soccer by Ives 5 (6)
"The year still is young, but New York acquiring Kenny Cooper from Portland for a first-round SuperDraft pick and allocation money is turning out to be quite the move for the Red Bulls. With six goals, Cooper is tied for second in the league, only trailing teammate Thierry Henry, whose seven tallies have helped the Frenchman become the first player to win three straight MLS Player of the Week awards."

ESPN Soccernet's Jeff Carlise has the Red Bulls jumping from seventh to sixth (and unlike many, is bold enough to drop the Galaxy way down to the bottom from 10 to 15).ESPN Soccernet 6 (7)
"The front-line tandem of Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper remained in sizzling form, as each recorded a brace in New York's 4-1 demolition of Columbus."

Avi Creditor over at Sports Illustrated has New York moving up the table as well, citing Henry and Cooper as the best one-two tandem in the League.Sports Illustrated 6 (9)
There's no hotter combo than the Thierry Henry-Kenny Cooper forward tandem in New York, with the two accounting for 12 goals in the last three games, including four against Columbus. The scoreboard was not completely indicative of how often the Red Bulls' defense got burned, though, with some errant point-blank chances, a few big Ryan Meara saves and the crossbar preventing the Crew from getting back in the game.

Stephen Keel and Kenny Cooper paid a visit to the White House Monday afternoon as part of the annual Easter Egg Roll. The events marks the 134th of its kind held on the grounds of the White House, as a number of athletes and celebrities came out to take part in the festivities. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle hosted over 30,000 visitors who received tickets to the event that also included performances from Rachel Crow, Janelle Monae and more.

Also worth noting: Keel brought his trusty camera along for the trip. You know what that means - another episode of Keel Cam is right around the corner. Watch some of his past episodes here.